Florida Man Doug Hughes, attempting to personally petition Congress (with 535 individual letters) about campaign finance reform. Per the Washington Post:
U.S. Capitol Police said that a small gyrocopter with one occupant landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon.
One person has been detained, Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail.
[Here is why you’re not allowed to fly your gyrocopter in Washington]Eyewitnesses in Capitol offices reported seeing police run toward the aircraft and take the pilot away. The small craft landed in the middle of the West Front Lawn, where the annual Christmas tree and Fourth of July concert stage are set up…
Streets around the scene were closed for much of the afternoon, but reopened about 4 p.m.
President Obama was in Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon, but he was briefed about the gyrocopter incident, according to White House spokesman Eric Schultz…
More details, crappy cellphone video of panicky tourists & maps at the link.
Hughes’ hometown paper, the Tampa Bay Times, has much more background:
… Doug Hughes’ close friend and co-worker, Mike Shanahan, said today that the Ruskin mailman is not a terrorist and did not mean any harm with his protest.
And just hours before Hughes landed in Washington, Hughes’ friend said he called a Secret Service agent to notify him of the possibility of the gyrocopter flight…
About a year ago, Shanahan said, Hughes told him of the idea to deliver letters to legislators by gyrocopter. Not long after, they were both questioned by a Secret Service official in Florida, he said. Wednesday morning, Shanahan said, Hughes called his friend and said he was in Washington, ready to take off.
So, he said, he pulled out the phone number he had saved from the Secret Service agent he spoke to months ago. He dialed. No answer, but he said he left a message. No call back. He still was not certain if the protest was actually going to happen.
“I didn’t want to get all of D.C. in an uproar and it turn out he was just practicing or something or he was just pulling my leg,” Shanahan said….
TBT reporter Ben Montgomery has a ton of background detail and Hughes’ video manifesto at the link — here’s hoping our brave defenders at Homeland Security don’t try to arrest him too:
… Hughes thinks the answers are out there, and they’re non-partisan. He points to reform thinkers like political activist Cenk Uygar and Harvard legal theorist Lawrence Lessig, who launched a political action committee to end political action committees. The motto: “Embrace the irony.”…
His idea began to blossom 2½ years ago, after his son, John Joseph Hughes, 24, committed suicide by driving his car head-on into another man, killing them both. “Police: Suicidal driver caused deadly crash,” read the headline in the Leesburg newspaper. He was crushed by grief, and disappointed that his son had killed himself — and someone else — to make a stupid, worthless point…
At first he thought about using an ultralight fixed-wing plane, but that felt too threatening. He finally found the gyrocopter, which has un-powered helicopter blades on top for lift but gets its thrust from a propeller on the back. The cockpit, if you can call it that, is wide open. “This is as transparent a vehicle that I could come up with,” Hughes said. “You can literally see through it.” He can land the craft in a space the size of half a basketball court.
Hughes set up a delayed email blast to alert every breaking news desk at every TV station and newspaper he could find, as well as the Secret Service… He hope[d] this public broadcast will deter the authorities from shooting him out of the sky…
***********
I’m sure it will be a great consolation to the Sunday talking heads, amid their calls for enhanced funding of DHS’s research into armored gyrfalcons & guard dogs with mouths full of bees, that Mr. Hughes is both bipartisan and centrist.
Apart from enhanced protest techniques, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Roger Moore
That’s going to get buried in a hurry. I’m sure the hunt is on for evidence that he was a dangerous radical leftist.
WaterGirl
They probably would have shot the guy, but he was white, right?
Anne Laurie
@Roger Moore:
… or a Cliven Bundy/Eric Rudolph. That’s why I wanted to stress that the poor man doesn’t seem to be even a potential terrorist, just a devastated father with a gift for performance art.
Betty Cracker
He chose a dumb stunt to publicize his cause, but he’s mad about the right thing. That makes him a cut above the typical headline-grabbing Florida Man.
PsiFighter37
Apparently Bill de Blasio is in Iowa and Nebraska speaking about his ‘progressive agenda’. That assclown should focus on running NYC and learning how to get better at local politics, of which he’s been a pathetic failure.
glory b
@WaterGirl: Exactly!
I can’t remember many details, but there was an incident involving a young black woman in a car with her few-months-old baby in a car seat who almost went through a barricade of spikes at the white house and was then going towards the capital(I think?) and they opened a barrage of gunfire at her. she was killed, miraculously, the baby survived.
SuperHrefna
I just ordered myself this awesome dragon cake pan from Think Geek: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/152e/#tabs
Looking forward to trying it out!
Tree With Water
If I’d had a father that stupid, I might have killed myself, too.
mdblanche
“Oh for the old days, when we could just say off with their heads.”
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@SuperHrefna:
Didn’t we warn you about shopping while you’re still taking the good drugs? ;-)
lamh36
Oh good Lordt…this is gonna be a long ass election cycle…I mean EVERY story is on HRC on MSNBC…is there nothing else going on in da world…geez.
Anyway…
So, I read this today and I’m like Cap’t Jean Luc Picard…”make it so”…
Lynda Carter Wants In On the New Wonder Woman Movie via @TheMarySue
I can honestly say that Wonder Woman is my FAVORITE COMIC BOOK SUPERHERO EVER! I mean, I remember sitting in my Wonder Woman underoos watching Lynda Carter spin around! Shoot, if Lynda Carter isn’t a part of the new WW film…then there will have to be a big effort to get me into the theatre seats!
If Lynda Carter is in anyway in the film, I will be there with bells on.
Wonder Woman is my one true favorite DC character (I’m a Marvel girl at heart). In fact, I’d say that WW is my favorite female superhero of all time! Much of that is due to the television show with Ms L. Carter.
Since the first time as a little girl, I remember wearing my WW underoos and watching Lynda Carter’s WW (the show ended right before I turned 3).
With all the different personas of WW in comics and elsewhere, for me, anyone who plays her has to live up to my fan freakout over Lynda Carter…lol
SuperHrefna
@Mnemosyne (tablet): :-D I may be shopping while stoned, but at least I have an awesome cake pan to look forward to! Now I just need to pick a recipe. Anyone got any favorite bundt cake recipes to share?
mtmofo
Well, one panicky tourist, the woman filming the flight.
PsiFighter37
@efgoldman: He had good media consultants, and he was running against a very weak field. He’s had terrible success convincing Albany to do anything he proposes, he wakes up late (maybe a small thing, but to me it reeks of laziness) and merely pitches his ‘agenda’ without having any kind of detailed specifics (also indicative of lack of intellectual heft, IMO).
Ultimately, he is a mayor, and his main responsibility is running the city. He should spend his time doing that instead of jetsetting as a self-proclaimed ‘progressive leader’. He’s proven himself to mainly be a windbag at this point.
dmsilev
@SuperHrefna: I have a good one my mom found in the newspaper ~35 years ago and we’ve been making it ever since. Wait one second while I dig out the chocolate-coated recipe sheet…
Pumpkin Fudge Cake
—————
Cocoa powder
3 oz bittersweet or 5 oz semisweet chocolate
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cup (1 small can) pumpkin
1/3 cup coffee liqueur
Powdered sugar
10-12 cup cake mold. I used a mold called a kugelhopf, but a tube or bundt mold will work just fine.
Preheat oven to 350
Grease pan with some butter or shortening, dust pan w/ cocoa powder. Shake out excess powder
Melt butter and chocolate over low flame or double boiler
Sift together flour, baking powder&soda, salt
Beat eggs & sugar until creamy
Add chocolate mixture to eggs, beat until blended
Mixing at low speed, gradually add the flour alternatively with the pumpkin. Mix well
Add liqueur, mix until combined.
Pour batter into cake mold, bake for 70-75 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean
Cool on rack for 45 minutes, turn out of pan and cool completely
Dust with powdered sugar
lamh36
Wow, this is interesting…talk about a “modern” problem.
Sofia Vergara’s ex-fiancé files lawsuit to stop destruction of frozen embryos made during their engagement
So in a situation like this, is it like a “custody” battle? I swear there was an episode of L&O: SVU about this. I would love to hear from a lawyer about what the law says on this, if the law says anything?
(the rest of the article, is about him saying she abused him, but it’s just allegations at this point?)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I despise the whole clan, but this is backwards
Violet
@PsiFighter37: He “wakes up late”? Like actually wakes up late? Like in the morning? That makes him lazy? Wow.
Different people have different body clocks. Doesn’t make them lazy if they don’t get up early. Someone I know is very much a night owl and left to his own devices would probably keep vampire hours. He’s got a daytime job but he comes in later than most people and stays late and is probably one of the hardest working people I know. Furthest thing from lazy.
SuperHrefna
@dmsilev: Yum! Thank you, I will bookmark this thread so I can make this, it sounds amazing.
lamh36
@efgoldman: I saw that when it was “breaking” over twitter. So far though, its still not “leading” the news, although there is coverage of it.
Not the breathless type of MJ trial coverage though.
Shana
Apple Caramel Cake. It’s on Epicurious and originally from Bon Appetit magazine.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/apple-cake-with-caramel-topping-107511
Not sure if the link will work.
lamh36
Hmm, another possible headache for NBC News? Doesn’t look like it though. Engel and team just going back over original story
NBC’s Richard Engel Re-Reporting His Kidnapping In Syria Following Questions Over Captors’ Identity
ETA: How sad is it that I didn’t realize the Engel was kidnapped. For the most part, I haven’t really been a fan of Engel’s reporting for a while now. I know he’s NBC news go-to foreign correspondent, but it just seemed fatigued sometimes
Hal
@lamh36: I’ve always felt they had to include Carter in some way. They need someone to play Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, but Amazons are supposed to be ageless. I’m sure there’s a way around that though.
PsiFighter37
@Violet: He’s in charge of the largest city in the country..not being able to wake up early enough (or not wanting to) means maybe he should be in a different line of work. YMMV.
lamh36
@Hal: have you seen Lynda Carter lately…she’s def aged, but but ageless could def describe her! She looks great the last time I saw a pic of her (2014). But things can change quickly
SiubhanDuinne
@SuperHrefna:
Paging TaMara and jeffreyw! TaMara and jeffreyw to Aisle 15, stat!
Violet
@lamh36: Not a lawyer, but have some knowledge of it. Laws on frozen sperm, frozen eggs and frozen embryos vary by state. Fertility clinics should require you to sign forms stating your preferences as to what happens to the embryos, eggs or sperm if you die, but they are not legally allowed to destroy anything without your consent. Technically frozen sperm, eggs and embryos could be kept indefinitely if the donors or “parents” didn’t sign paperwork stating destruction upon their death or if they just kind of disappear–move and don’t call the clinic, no forwarding address. That kind of thing.
So yes, there could be a “custody battle” over the embryos depending on what they signed prior to beginning the fertility treatments. Also if one of the parties changes their mind they can try to sue for “custody” if the other one wants to destroy them, etc.
It really can be a messy business.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
so according to tonight’s RMS, the 2016 election will be Hillary pushing a Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, vs the Republican plan to privatize the VA.
Were I capable of optimism….
NotMax
That people panicked over what was essentially an erector set with a rotor says much too much, and not in a good way.
lamh36
@Violet: I’m NOT a morning person. When I have to work, I wake up for 830am to get ready for work for 930. I don’t like to take sleep enhancers, so I let my body clock decide when I go to sleep and some nights that means, I dont’ go to sleep until 2am!
When I’m off work, I will go to sleep at my body clock time and wake up when my body decides. That means that somedays I don’t wake up until 11am or later.
I guess that’d make me lazy then? And I’m far fromlazy
jl
The idea of bipartisan centrist terrorist cells that commit acts of civil disobedience performance art in this country is terrifying.
Violet
@PsiFighter37: I get the impression from your comment that the mayor not getting up early enough is some kind of issue that’s being discussed in the city. Is that correct. I’m completely unaware of it, but I don’t live anywhere near NYC. I haven’t seen it discussed in national media. Is he requiring other people to reschedule meetings or something? How is it a problem?
I’m kind of fascinated that the mayor’s sleeping schedule is a point of discussion. How do people know when he gets up in the morning?
lamh36
@Violet: Your understanding is actually along the same lines of mine. It’s all just a fascinating to me the whole subject of the legal side of IVF
Anne Laurie
@glory b: I think you’re thinking of Miriam Carey. To be fair, in the heat of the moment Carey’s actions looked a lot more like someone deliberately attempting to cause harm — she rammed a WH barricade, knocked over a Secret Service agent, “fled the scene” & took evasive action before crashing and dying in a hail of gunfire. It was during the government shutdown, when every LEO was extra-antsy about the upsurge in take-back-mah-gubmint threats, and IIRC Carey’s car windows were tinted — they couldn’t identify the driver by sex (or presumably race) & didn’t see the baby in the back seat. Terrible tragedy, and goddess knows it should have been handled better, but there is a security difference between “car w/tinted windows crashing into security barriers at high rate of speed” and “one-man gyrocopter landing in the middle of an open park”. Especially since the President was in the area during the Carey incident, but he was out of town today.
muddy
@NotMax: Did you see the chimp who knocked down the zoo drone?
Violet
@lamh36: Yeah, it’s a minefield. You work in a lab and I’m sure you’re familiar with all the legal issues and safety requirements and safeguards regarding the various things you deal with. Imagine doing that with the various parts that can make up an embryo that might turn into a baby some day.
The people involved are usually at a point where they’ve tried making a baby “the regular way” and it hasn’t worked so they’re really eager to have a child so emotions are high. And it’s very expensive. Just an entire minefield of emotional and legal issues all tangled up.
NotMax
@SuperHrefna
Ups a packaged chocolate cake mix to well past 11.
½ cup warm water
½ cup vegetable or similar cooking oil
½ pint sour cream
4 eggs
1 package instant chocolate pudding
9 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bits
1 package chocolate cake mix
Bundt or other tube cake pan, well-sprayed or well greased.
Mix together water, eggs, oil and sour cream
Add pudding mix
Mix well.
Add cake mix
Mix well.
Fold in chocolate bits
Pour batter into pan, tap pan lightly on counter to settle mix and remove air pockets.
Bake for one hour at 325 degrees.
Let cool completely before removing from pan.
Cake is very dense, so much so that needs no frosting. A dollop of whipped cream on each slice is very nice, though.
Tenar Darell
@SuperHrefna: Dissect your dragon cakes in good health!
NotMax
@muddy
Yup, saw that. And the buddies all coming over to inspect the kill.
Anne Laurie
@Violet:
Not a NYCer any more, but the common complaint I’m seeing about deBlasio is that he habitually shows up late for everything, even meetings he’s arranged, even for very public events where he’s made statements in advance that this time he’ll be there, for certain sure. He’s paid a lot of money & given a very visible platform to show the fvck up, and people from all parts of the political spectrum — from the NYDaily News to the NYTImes to New York Magazine — bitch that he can’t be bothered to take them seriously, that he makes pro-forma ain’t-I-a-naughty-boy non-apologies rather than shutting up and finding a better method to stay on schedule.
I’m a night owl with ADD myself, so I understand his issues, but I also understand that after the first or third or tenth time someone else is inconvenienced by my tardiness they’re gonna be a lot less sympathetic. He can afford to have an aide give him every-ten-minute warnings starting an hour before each event, if that’s what it takes.
Violet
@Anne Laurie: Interesting. I had no idea he had an issue with being late. That is a problem for someone in his position. Not sure that’s the same thing as not waking up early in the morning, though. Someone can be a night owl and still be on time for appointments once they’re up and going in the morning.
Belafon
ht LGF. If you want to read something that will make you angry and laugh at the same time, read Alice Dreger’s livetweeting of the sex ed talk her son received at school.
Zinsky
I’m sure no one remembers the name, Frank Corder, but he was this fruit loop’s spiritual predecessor. Corder crashed a small Cessna into the White House in 1994 when Clinton was president. Story here.
The story was quietly squelched but some sources say Corder was a Rush Limbaugh listener and this act was a botched and foolishly conceived assassination plan. I always thought it was an interesting and small-scale foreshadowing of what happened on September 11, 2001.
gogol's wife
@Violet:
Apparently he’s late to everything. He’s not covering himself with glory.
Betty Cracker
@SuperHrefna: Here’s a nice pound cake recipe:
3 cups AP flour
6 eggs
3 cups sugar
8 oz room temp cream cheese
3 sticks + 2 tbsp softened butter
3 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp bourbon (or vanilla if you don’t do bourbon)
Blend sugar, cream cheese and butter in mixer. Gradually add flour and eggs, alternating 1/2 cup of flour and one egg until all is incorporated. Add vanilla and bourbon. Pour into well greased Bundt (dragon!) pan. Place in COLD oven, and set to 300 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
lamh36
If you are my a member of my immediate family or one of my many close friends or co-workers, then when asked what my favorite movie is, you’d know to answer “Dirty Dancing”.
Knowing that, you can imagine how much I love the new UnitedHealthCare commercial where a couple attempts to do “the lift” with disastrous consequences. I giggle and re-watch it everytime!
Our Song Commercial | UnitedHealthcare :60
ETA: Patrick Swayze was my very first “grown man” crush as a teen. Every teenage girl reaches a point where there crush is no longer some cute teen boybander, but a “real man”…lol
Tenar Darell
Do you all like whales? This is a super cool video taken by the Nautilus ROV of a sperm whale, 600 meters down.
jibeaux
Florida, you don’t say.
Heliopause
@SuperHrefna:
All results from a trauma I suffered as a sboolboy. I was attacked by a bat.
Cervantes
@Violet:
They do.
California Health and Safety Code Section 125315 applies in this case — but one of the parties is alleging that (1) the consent form provided by the clinic was defective under the law because it did not specify disposition of embryos in case of separation, divorce, or termination of romantic relationship; and (2) anyway, he says, he signed the (defective) consent form under duress.
Even if the consent form had contained all the right provisions and all the legitimate permissions, there are numerous untried questions. It’s not clear that a consent form of this type should be or will be treated as if it were a contract, especially not a contract between the mother and father.
Quite.
Violet
@lamh36: I like that commercial. Hate that it’s United Healthcare, but the commercial itself is funny.
lamh36
@gogol’s wife: @Anne Laurie: @Violet:
Yeah, that is pretty bad. I’m def NOT a morning person, but I am very reliable and so I’m pretty much always on time if not early
Mnemosyne (tablet)
For the Catholics and ex-Catholics, “The Shoes of the Fisherman” is just starting on TCM. It actually takes Catholicism seriously and comes to the only possible announcement by a new Pope who actually pays attention to the Bible.
Belafon
@lamh36: That one cracks me up as well. It’s also funny because the code shown is an actual code you can use for reporting the source of an injury in a medical report. My wife works at a clinic and looked it up.
The wife delivers “I came in too hot” perfectly.
lamh36
@Belafon: Lordt., I literally LOL at that bit and the husbands nod and the Doctor’s face like um…okay.
It’s also make me sentimental, cause i’m not embarrassed to say that when I was younger, I used to get my little sister to do “the lift” with me and I swear until her bones got to heavy, we’d always attempt it whenever we watched the movie.
My sis is 23 years old now, and all muscle, ain’t no way we’d be able to do that lift now…lol
ETA: The same sister is getting married this year, I’m trying to convince her and her fiancee to learn “the lift” for their first dance as a married couple…lol
Hal
@lamh36: She looks great, but I have a feeling they might want everyone in the same age range. No offence to the actress they picked for the role, but a great solution would be going with someone else a little older. This is one of those times I wish Charlize Theron was a brunette. Or they could be really daring and go with Gina Torres, but I’m sure fanboy heads would explode.
SuperHrefna
Oh wow, all these awesome recipes! It is like a party in here, with virtual cake. I have this thread bookmarked so I can refer back to it – it will take a week or so for my dragon pan to arrive but maybe I can practice with a lesser cake pan before then.
Speaking of parties, my Maine Coon has spotted a spider crawling on the ceiling and is running around, jumping madly to see if he can get up there to catch it.
lamh36
@Hal: I was not happy with the choice for WW for SupesVsBats, and still I’m wary about her. I’m willing to give her a chance though. Still, if she’s no good, then I’m hoping for another actress.
The WW movie has taken soo long to be made, that I’m just glad to have something. But mahn, there were so many actresses who would have been great as WW, but thanks to the botched efforts over the years to get a good movie made, all of the actresses I’ve though of are at this point to “Mature” to play Diana.
whatever happens though, the filmmakers would be fools to not include Lynda Carter, in more than a “cameo” role.
She is basically the ONLY actress to have played WW that people actually remember and love. Shoot google Wonder Woman images and seriously every other image besides the comic book illustration is basically Lynda Carter.
Yes, there was the actress before, but only the most rabid fan of WW would know it. And there has been some new actresses trying to play her, but they haven’t been able to capture the spirit that Lynda did.
Even the new WW for the SupeVsBats movie, still has to prove herself.
Just Some Fuckhead
Your move, Congress.
ruemara
Well, I showed the work I did to my ex, who helped out with some modeling. He didn’t think it was very good. In fact he had nothing good to say. I’m just surrounded by awesome people who keep me feeling ashamed and incapable.
SuperHrefna
@ruemara: Then they aren’t that awesome, are they? Hugs and slices of virtual cake – you have so much to offer, if the people in your life make you feel ashamed and incapable you need to find some better people to be in your life.
Glidwrith
@ruemara: Hey, I’m always lurking in the background and pay extra attention when you show up. I think you are quite sensible and have some awesome recipes. Have you ever posted any of your work on BJ? I heard rumor of an Easter egg delivering puppy…
PS Maybe there is also a good reason he is an ex-?
Tenar Darell
Grr.
Flipped through PBS and caught Steve Wynn talking to Charlie Rose. Hit the station just as he was talking about how government should stay out of unions. Oh, and to incentivize teachers he would start by giving them money, individually, if 80% of the kids in their class pass a locally developed standardized test for 3rd grade etc. And I snarled at the t.v. “guess you don’t read the papers, assh*le.” He’s missing Common Core, the Atlanta trials, all union history…. I listened to him for two minutes and I heard so much wrongness! Charlie didn’t call him on any of it. Yes, I know that his show is to ask wondering questions and accept all bullsh*t answers, but on CBS he’s “supposed” to be a journalist FFS!
(Also too, this just doesn’t fit in with the sh*tty cops thread).
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@ruemara:
Not that you needed any reminders about why he’s an ex …
Also, too, most people suck at giving useful criticism, especially if they’re in the same field. They spend a lot of time telling you what they would have done instead of helping you figure out how to make your work better. Not the same thing at all.
Librarian
@Heliopause: A cat?
No, a bat.
Linnaeus
LOL Nashville.
Morzer
Apparently the real, authentic Rand Paul has finally been unearthed:
http://tinyurl.com/l3s6zmc
PsiFighter37
@gogol’s wife: Yes, this is true. He woke up late to attend a memorial service he was supposed to attend as well. So it’s pretty fucking annoying that he can’t be bothered to show up to ANYTHING on time in NYC, yet he manages to find time to leave the city talk about progressivism über älles.
Matt McIrvin
@Hal: There was a time when Lucy Lawless was the only obvious choice for the role of Wonder Woman. These days they probably want someone younger, though I’m sure she could still pull it off.
msdc
We never have to scratch very far to see the conspiracy theorist simmering behind this front-pager, do we?
Ryan
Anyone else immediately think of Cliff Claven when s/he hit the word “mailman”?
Patrick in Michigan
You really want to know what pisses me off? The right is calling him a progressive. That’s such a goddamned insult.
jafd
@lamh36:
Me not morning person.
Me figures out ‘time I must be out the door’, sets alarm for 3 hours before that. Ensures I can breakfast*, do ‘personal maintainance’, dress and check appearance while sufficiently awake.
*First breakfast, then shower and dressing. Family tradition, Great-Grandpa once spilled breakfast on good suit ….